A Royal Flush
| Only Fools and Horses episode | |
| "A Royal Flush" | |
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| Series | Christmas Special |
| Writer | John Sullivan |
| Director | Ray Butt |
| Producer | Ray Butt |
| Duration | Original broadcast: 74 mins
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| Airdate | 25 December 1986 |
| Audience | 18.8 million |
"A Royal Flush" is an episode of the BBC sitcom, Only Fools and Horses, first screened on 25 December 1986. It was the second feature-length edition of the show, and the fifth Christmas special. It was re-edited into a shorter version with added laughter track and released on DVD in 2004. UK Gold have now adopted this version for repeats on their channel. In the episode, Rodney becomes friends with the daughter of a Duke, and Del decides to help him make the right impression.
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[edit] Synopsis
As Del Boy sells cutlery to the local market crowd, Rodney spots an attractive woman, and abandons his lookout position to talk to her. At Sid's cafe, she introduces herself as Vicky. Upon further reading, Rodney discovers that she is Lady Victoria Marsham Hales of Covington House, Berkshire, the daughter of the Duke of Maylebury, a second cousin of the Queen and explains that her mother died in a skiing accident. Sensing a chance to make the Trotter family millionaires, Del decides to assist Rodney's blossoming friendship with Lady Victoria, such as by acquiring tickets for the opera Carmen.
On the night of the opera, Rodney and Victoria arrive, only to see that Del has also shown up, along with June Snell (last seen in "Happy Returns"), a former girlfriend of Del and mother of one of Rodney's ex-girlfriends. Del and June ruin the night by noisily eating snacks, talking during the performance, and arguing with other members of the audience. Nonetheless, Victoria invites Rodney to stay at Covington House for the weekend. Wanting Rodney to make a good impression, Del insists that he dresses as a country gentleman in a tweed suit. Already nervous during the weekend in Berkshire, Rodney is horrified when Del arrives with a reluctant Albert in the Reliant Regal, claiming to have turned up to deliver Rodney's evening suit that he "forgot" (although Rodney knows that he packed it and Del removed it so he had an excuse to turn up). As Rodney seethes with anger, Del introduces himself to Victoria's father Henry and invites himself to that evening's dinner having coincidentally brought his own evening suit. Del takes part in their clay pigeon shoot using a pump-action shotgun borrowed from Iggy Higgins, a local bank robber, and quickly begins to irritate Henry.
At dinner, Del gets drunk and boorish and starts insulting the guests with lewd comments, touting a marriage between Rodney and Victoria, and embarrassing Rodney by revealing his conviction for possession of cannabis. As Rodney is beside himself with embarrassment, Del finally pushes the Duke over the edge by telling a skiing joke (despite knowing that's how Victoria's mother died). In a fury, the Duke demands Del meets him outside. As the two leave, Victoria and Rodney regretfully agree that they shouldn't see each other again. Outside the Duke orders that Del, Rodney and Albert are to leave his premises immediately. Del tells the Duke that Rodney may need to be paid off to leave Victoria alone.
Back at the flat, a furious Rodney relates to a very hung over Del how he has always ruined his opportunities to make a success of his life by interfering, and injures his hand punching a vent cover out of anger. After Rodney reveals that he refused the offer of a £1000 pay-off from the Duke to stop seeing Vicky (angering Del, who had arranged the offer), Del says that had Rodney refused to stop seeing Victoria, he would probably have been assassinated by the Special Branch because of his conviction for marijuana use. Del ostensibly apologises to Rodney and asks him to shake his hand, but this turns out to be a ploy for Del to inflict punishment on Rodney for refusing the £1000 by squeezing his bad hand.
[edit] Episode cast
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[edit] Music
- The Smiths : Ask
- Erasure : Sometimes
- Kent Opera : Handel's Overture for the Royal Fireworks
- Kent Opera : Extracts from Bizet's Carmen
[edit] The 2004 Version & Home Video
The episode was first released on the VHS format. The VHS release has the episode intact as per its original broadcast.
The DVD was later released containing the 2004 edited version and not the original broadcast version. It was heavily re-edited and included a laughter track which the original broadcast did not have, reportedly due to the limited time available between recording and broadcast. The reason for the 2004 edit, according to Steve Clark's book 'The Only Fools and Horses Story' is that John Sullivan was dissatisfied with the original version, feeling that it seemed to show Del Boy in a negative light. Whereas Del was always seen to be a lovable rogue, in this episode there were some scenes where he came over as boorish and offensive.
The original broadcast version was released on DVD in 2005 with issue 13 of The Only Fools and Horses DVD Collection magazine series. When the 2005 DVD was released it included another Christmas special, "The Frog's Legacy". On the back of the DVD case it states "This Has Been Edited for Contractual Reasons." However, there are no edits on this DVD edition. Both "The Frog's Legacy" and "A Royal Flush" are both intact, as they were originally broadcast. The 2004 re-edited edition has received much criticism from fans, see DVD reviews for comments. The original version of the Royal Flush episode can only be obtained via the VHS edition or the 2005 13th collection DVD. The total running time for the 2005 DVD is approx 134 minutes and it is region 2. Both of these editions are now out of print; however they frequently appear on online auctions.
[edit] External links
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